Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optical imaging and measurement systems and more particularly to a three-dimensional (3D) microscope including insertable components that facilitate multiple imaging and measurement capabilities, including Nomarski imaging, polarized light imaging, quantitative differential interference contrast (q-DIC) imaging, motorized polarized light imaging, phase-shifting interferometry (PSI), and vertical-scanning interferometry (VSI).
Related Art
Conventional microscopes enable an operator to view magnified images of minute features on samples otherwise invisible to the human eye. Because of this, conventional microscopes have been widely used in universities, research institutes, and many industries. However, a conventional microscope has a significant limitation. Specifically, a conventional microscope only provides a two-dimensional (2D) image of a sample, while in the real world a majority of samples are 3D in nature. Therefore a need arises for a 3D microscope to capture images of those samples.